Gotta Believe
by kappie01
Summary: This was a dream I had about everyone's favourite perverted ninja in the hilarious episode where Team 7 tries to see what's underneath their sensei's face. Apparently if you have peanut butter before bed, you have dreams about anime.
1. Chapter 1

The sun was warm on Araile's face as she lay on her back in a patch of green grass with her eyes closed. Her ear twitched as birds sang in a tree nearby, and she opened her gold eyes slowly.

Team 7 was training in one of the many training meadows that dotted the village, and frankly the 9 year old was quite bored. The team had no missions for 3 days now, and Kakashi had the team work on various tasks such as target practice and sparring.

This always got Naruto going, which entertained the young girl in the beginning, but that had become dull now. She barely twitched an ear, like the rest of the team, when the energetic ninja had one of his many outbursts.

Sitting up, the girl scratched her head as she gazed at the team. Once again, Naruto was having another tantrum over something.

 _'Probably something to do with Sasuke'_ she thought.

It always was. That, or not enough ' _tough_ ' missions.

Sighing, Araile stood up and dusted her shirt off. She loved this shirt: a long purple and green shirt with wide sleeves. Her black shorts clung to her legs as clumps of grass fell from the young girl's body.

Giggling to herself, Araile skipped over to where Kakashi was scolding Naruto once again. She came up beside her caretaker as he finished his spiel about teamwork and the importance of it.

"Alright, you are all dismissed for the day" he said with a typical one-eyed smile.

As Team 7 left, Kakashi began walking towards the Hokage's office, a far away look on his face as Araile trailed behind. Araile recognized that look; he was reminiscing about his past. Skipping ahead, Araile let out a small ' _oh_ ' as she dug into her pant pocket with a smile.

Some hours earlier, Maito Gai had given her a cherry-flavoured sucker.

She popped it into her mouth after releasing it from the wrapping. It had been a bribe from Gai to get some information about Kakashi's weaknesses. Araile gave a ' _thank you_ ' with a happy smile, and that was enough to get Gai going with the tears and random sunset backgrounds. During his blabbing about ' _young youthfulness_ ', Araile had put the treat in her pocket and skipped away, leaving Gai to himself.

"Where did you get that?" her caretaker asked with his typical hands-in-pockets pose.

"Gai gave it to me" she answered through the sucker in her mouth.

"Oh really" Kakashi mused, continuing to walk ahead.

"Yup! It was a bribe but he went all crazy and stuff" she answered, giggling at the memory.

Kakashi sighed, but said nothing. This was a regular occurrence as Gai thought bribing his charge would get some 'helpful' information to somehow change the odds of their little rivalry.

It never worked.

Sighing again, the two made it to the village where Kakashi headed to the Hokage's office. As both rounded a corner, something caught Araile's eye. Jogging to see what it was, Araile waved haphazardly to Kakashi and snuck around a corner.

 _'What's going on?'_ she thought as Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura huddled in a group, whispering to themselves.

Tilting her head in confusion, Araile continued watching the genin team. Apparently they were planning something. Tail twitching, Araile walked up to the group.

"Araile! What are you doing here? I thought you were Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura exclaimed, eyes nervously shifting between Sasuke and Naruto.

"He's with the Hokage" the girl answered.

"Well, we have to get going now! Bye!" Sakura yelled as she towed her two teammates with her.

"What just happened?" Araile murmured to herself as she watched a plume of smoke raise from the fleeing genin.

Shrugging to herself Araile walked towards the Hokage building, hoping to catch Kakashi there. No luck there, he had already left. Grumbling under her breath, Araile walked towards the store. Thankfully, she had some money that Kakashi had given her.

Even though she had the sucker Gai gave her, a girl always had to have more candy.

Candy was the way of life.

Araile rounded the corner, and almost ran straight into Kakashi with an arm full of groceries.

"Where are you headed?" Kakashi asked, glancing down at Araile.

A pink flash caught Araile's eye before she could answer, and she glanced over to the side.

"Hm?" Kakashi looked at the store they were in front of, and dropped his groceries in shock.

The noise caused Araile to look sharply to her caregiver, but the girl wished she never had. The groceries were scattered on the ground while her caregiver was drooling all over the bookstore display window. Sighing, Araile quickly tried to gather all the scattered food. She wrinkled her nose in disgust as Kakashi turned around towards her, completely awestruck. She looked to where he was looking, and almost smacked her forehead.

His favourite pervert book...was turning into a movie according to the giant poster. She would never hear the end of this.

"Wha-hey!" Araile said as Kakashi booked it away, shouting about getting a ticket.

Well that wasn't fair! Araile had candy to buy! She should just leave the spilled groceries there on the ground...but that would mean that Kakashi would take away her precious candy.

Before she could freak out, Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto appeared from behind the poster and ran after their sensei. Inner turmoil forgotten, Araile turned her head towards the retreating team with a confused expression

Kakashi appeared behind Araile with a 'poof', and Araile looked at her caregiver over her shoulder. With a pat on the head in thanks, Kakashi gathered the groceries and continued on his way.

Araile skipped to catch up, nearly knocking into his back as Kakashi stopped behind Team 7. Araile peaked out from behind his back.

 _'What's going on? Team 7 is acting weird!'_ she thought.

Before long, the genin sped off with a trail of dust following behind them. Shrugging, Kakashi continued towards their apartment. Araile, staring after the retreating team, turned around and ran to catch up.

A day later, the team had a mission to help with small chores around a farm quite a distance away. Taking a big breath of air, Araile happily ran ahead with Naruto, happy that she could tag along.

As the group began their trek, Araile's ear twitched and she stopped, turning her head to see what had caught her attention. Sounded like...people talking? Were they being followed? Her ears twitched in different directions, trying to catch the sound again.

There it was again!

It was definitely a group of people talking, whispering almost.

"Araile, let's go" Kakashi called, and Araile turned around slowly and walked towards her caregiver.

"I think people are following us, Kakashi" she said as she came up beside the Jounin.

"We're fine. Now come on, we have a mission to complete" he said, placing his hand on her head and ruffling her hair, earing the Jounin some complaints from his charge.


	2. Chapter 2

As the team continued their journey, Araile couldn't shake the feeling that they were being followed. Her ears kept swiveling back and forth, trying to hone in on the whispers she had heard earlier. She knew she had heard something, but no one believed her.

Puffing her cheeks out in irritation, Araile continued walking beside Sakura, tail twitching in annoyance.

A bath house came into view, and Kakashi suggested that they stopped there. As they came to the entrance, a small elderly woman with three younger girls were outside to welcome them. A loud creaking came from the side, causing Araile to turn to the side as her ears swivvled.

That barrel...wasn't moving before.

Her ears pressed forward as she heard whispers from coming inside the barrel. Her eyes widened; those were the same voices from before! Her eyes narrowed as three men peaked out from the barrel, and a small growl rose from the back of her throat.

The strangers were following them!

A hand placed on top of Araile's head caused the growl to stop, and she looked up in surprise. Kakashi looked down at her with a typical one-eyed smile. As Team 7 went in with the promise of a meal, Araile held back, eyes still trained on the barrel.

"Kakashi?" she murmured, eyes still on the barrel.

"Hm?"

"There are people in there" she pointed to the barrel, ears pinned back.

Chuckling, Kakashi continued after his team of genin, and Araile growled again and hurried after her caregiver. She turned her head to glance at the barrel one last time, then entered the bath house.

Sighing, Araile placed her pack beside Team 7s, and sat down beside Sakura as the meal was being prepared. Her tail kept twitching anxiously, her eyes scanning the room.

Even though the bath house was for relaxing, the child couldn't relax. Her stomach clenched as the food was placed in front of them and everyone dug in, but Araile could barely touch the food. Her ear twitched as whispers came from behind the door.

Her head snapped up; the strangers were in the bath house!

Her lips pulled back in a silent snarl, but before she could do anything Naruto flung the kettle of tea right at Kakashi. A yelp slipped from Araile as Kakashi quickly lifted the table to deflect the kettle.

Unfortunately, that meant all the food had one place to go: down to the ground.

The 9 year old scrambled out of the way as all the food crashed to the ground with a loud clatter, and Kakashi peaked from around the table, chuckling out an apology. As Team 7 yelled at their sensei, Araile glanced around the room.

Her eyes narrowed as she noticed three sets of holes cut out of the paper screen.

So they were being watched.

"Kakashi?"

"Hm?"

"We're being watched" Araile said as they gathered their packs to bring them to the appropriate gender change rooms.

"Oh? How do you know this?" Kakashi mused, glancing down at the girl.

"I saw three guys in a barrel! And they were following us since we were walking! I saw them! I heard them too!" she said all in a rush, her eyes wide.

"We're okay, Araile. There is no one following us. You have to reign in your imagination, we can't all be dreamers like you" Kakashi chuckled, ruffling Araile's hair.

"But..." Araile trailed off as the males went to their appropriate change room.

Grumbling, Araile trailed after Sakura into the female change room. As they changed into towels, Araile huffed and headed into the bath, gingerly placing one foot at a time into the hot water. The steam rose from the water, swirling around in oblique shapes in front of her face. Her ear twitched as Sakura sighed, whining about not being able to see Kakashi's face.

' _Huh? Is that why they were acting weird?_ ' Araile thought.

Apparently it was a big deal to have to see her caregiver's face. Araile had never seen Kakashi's face, and just assumed he had a defect or something. The 9 year old didn't really care about finding out what was under the mask.

Her ear twitched again as the same whispers came from the men's area and her eyes widened.

Again? They were going to attack Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke in the bath!

A small series of hiccups followed, causing Araile to cock her head in confusion. Those weren't human hiccups at all...swimming over to the side, Araile found a small hole in the wood to peak to the men's side.

A frog...dead on its back.

' _Oh...poor thing_ ' Araile thought sadly.

Araile then shrugged and jumped into the hot water, splashing Sakura in the process. Giggling, the girls began to splash each other, and Sakura even let Araile hold onto her shoulders as she towed the small girl around the water. Sakura led Araile out of the baths soon after, and Araile knew that if they stayed any longer they would surely be cooked.

Stretching, Araile and Sakura quickly got changed and came out just as Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi came out at the same time. Naruto had a weird look on his face while stuffing something in his pack. Shrugging, Araile rushed to catch up with the team as they bid their farewells. A series of creaking echoed behind them, and Araile turned her head as the same whispers came again. Those guys were in the barrel again! She gave a small growl but it was stopped as soon as Naruto shouted to get moving.

She took a quick look back to the barrel, and hurried to catch up.

Soon, they got to their main location, and began working on the farm. Some time later, Araile noticed that Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were missing.

"Hey! Kakashi Hatake!" someone shouted, and Araile looked up from eating an apple.

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke...were dressed up as ninja?

'Ninja dressed as ninja?' Araile thought in her head, cocking her head in confusion.

Tapping Kakashi on the shoulder, she pointed to the three genin in garbs she would guess as 10 times the size of each. A sound caught her attention as something creaked nearby. Twitching her ears, Araile yelped in surprise as the barrel appeared again out of nowhere. She blinked when three men burst from the barrel, flipping into bizarre poses.

What were they talking about? Something about..paying crimes? Who had crimes? Why did they have to pay?

"See? I told you we were being followed" she said as she tugged on Kakashi's sleeve, who nodded in return before turning his attention back to his genin.

Hiding a giggle behind her hands, she hopped up on a fench beam and watched as Kakashi tied them together in a group with rope.

A crashing sound caused Araile to turn her attention back to the strange men.

"Oh...they broke something" she sighed as she shook her head.

That would make a mess.

"I was wondering when you three would show" Kakashi said.

Stuttering, the three goons scrambled back. Snorting, Araile watched as Sakura announced that the entire thing was their plan to get the three out of hiding, to which the three believed.

"Wow...Naruto seems smart compared to these idiots" Araile giggled as Kakashi advanced on the three fools.

Thumps, bangs and screams filled the air as the Jounin made sure the three would never be following them again. They swung back and forth from a wooden beam, which amused Araile greatly as she jumped to try and hit them each time they swung, giggling the entire time. On a particular high jump, Araile twitched when her name was called.

"Aw, I never get to have any fun" she pouted as Kakashi called, telling his charge to hurry up.

Sighing, she ran back to Team 7, and they finally began the journey back to Konoha. As the team walked, Naruto suddenly burst.

"Hey! Kakashi-sensei, what's underneath your mask?" he asked, and the other two genin crowded in close.

' _Ooooh they finally asked!_ ' Araile thought as she continued to chew on a sucker that Kakashi gave her to stop complaining.

She was not a happy 9 year old after Kakashi forced her to stop in her torment of the three goons. He always had candy with him in case this happened, and when he sensed a tantrum in the form of a 9 year old, he had no chance but to give her candy.

"Behind this mask...is another mask!" Kakashi stated, causing his genin to fall on their faces with groans.

Araile giggled through her sucker as Naruto shouted his frustrations to the heavens. This had turned out to be a great mission.


End file.
